Agricultural vehicles in various forms cut and process crop material. For example, windrowers are dedicated machines for cutting crops from the ground for subsequent baling of the crop material. Combine harvesters combine the three separate operations of crop reaping, threshing, and winnowing into a single machine. Combine harvesters may be configured as multi-crop machines that process different crops by interchanging the header mounted at the front of the machine. For example, a grain header can be attached for harvesting wheat and a corn header can be attached for harvesting corn.
The header may include various cutting implements depending on the type of crop. After being cut, the material is conveyed toward a center of the header, where it is transferred to a feederhouse. The feederhouse includes an elevator for moving the cut material toward a threshing rotor where the material is broken apart. Modern headers, particularly in the case of combine harvesters, can be large and lengthy in order to cut a wide swath through the crop. For example, the long dimension of corn headers for modern combine harvesters may be on the order of ten times the width of the feederhouse to which the headers attach and through which the cut crop material is fed into the machine.